Is Paris ready for the Olympics? Here's what a historian says

With just one month until the 2024 Olympics take over Paris, is the city ready for it?

Some have noted concerns ahead of the Games, which begin on July 26, including the possibilities of crowding, extreme heat and a pollution problem. 

“I think pretty much so,” Olympics historian David Wallechinsky said in an interview with CTV News Channel Wednesday. “From everybody I’ve spoken with, yes, they’re pretty ready, a lot more than recent Olympics have been.”

Though an influx of people is expected to the country capital for the games, Wallechinsky says it’ll likely not be too crowded as many Parisians typically head out on holiday in August. But, there are still concerns about the heat impacting some events.

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When Paris last hosted the Summer Games in 1924, Wallechinsky said, extreme heat forced a two-and-a-half hour delay to the marathon.

“There’s a precedent in Paris for extreme heat during the Olympics, even if it was a century ago,” Wallechinsky said.

In order to prevent delays, the historian said he believes the Olympics will schedule certain events at different hours to avoid peak times in the sun.

“For example, the 1996 (Games) in Atlanta: they rescheduled both the men’s and women’s marathon for seven in the morning,” he said.

Several Olympic teams – Canada and the United States, among others – are planning on supplying air conditioning units to their athletes to cool off from the summer heat.

“In our conversations with athletes, this was a very high priority and something that the athletes felt was a critical component in their performance capability,” U.S. Olympic and Paralympic CEO Sarah Hirshland told The Associated Press earlier this month.

Will the Seine be swimmable?

Though it has been illegal to swim in the Seine River for more than a century, the Olympics Olympic organizers plan to stage some events in the canal river. Outside of the opening ceremonies, the first event in the Seine is the men’s triathlon, which includes a 1.5-kilometre swim on July 30. 

Earlier this month, however, elevated levels of E. coli were detected in the river water after a bout of heavy rain. In the first eight days of June, test results revealed E. coli levels consistently exceeded the safe limit (in European standards, that’s 900 colony-forming units per 100 millilitres).

• READ MORE: Unsafe levels of E. coli found in Paris’ Seine River less than 2 months before Olympics
   

While this won’t affect the opening ceremony, Wallechinsky said, it is a cause for concern for the long-distance swimming events.

“The athletes are supposed to be swimming in the Seine and there’s E. coli, there’s all sorts of pollution problems,” the historian said.

A massive reservoir that can store up to 50,000 cubic metres of water was installed in the river in May, in an effort to prevent street flooding and rainwater from seeping into the sewer system.

The International Olympic Committee is confident the Seine will be ready for the Summer Games, with Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo even promising to take a dip in the river ahead of the competition. She's said she'll make good on this promise which was postponed until after the snap elections on July 7. 

The 2024 Summer Olympics kick off July 26 and wrap up Aug. 11.

With files from The Associated Press